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NAHL Austin Bruins

Austin Edges Minot in Weekend Opener

January 10, 2014 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Austin Bruins News Release


One of the North American Hockey League s top penalty-kills led the Austin Bruins (23-11-1) to a 4-2 win over the Minot Minotauros (14-19-3) in a Central Division showdown at Riverside Arena in Austin Friday night. The Minotauros power-play never got going in its five chances throughout the game, thanks to the Bruins aggressive kill.

Scoring chances were few and far between for both teams in the opening period, but Easton Viitala (Marquette, MI) took advantage of his chance in the early going, as he ripped a wrist shot past Minotauros goalie Brandon Wildung (Minneota, MN) to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead. Minot tied the game when Troy Degler (Fort Myers, FL) found a cutting Tyler Shipstad (Colorado Springs, CO), who deflected the puck past Bruins goaltender Nick Lehr (Roseville, MN). The teams went into the first intermission knotted at one goal apiece.

The Bruins carried most of a power-play into the start of the second period, but could not convert. However, right after the Minot penalty expired, the Bruins took the lead when Sam Kauppila (Gurnee, IL) snuck a loose puck at the edge of the crease over the goal line. Austin carried a 2-1 lead into the locker room after two periods.

Trey Dodd (St. Louis, MO) capitalized on a bad Minot turnover in their own zone, with a a backhander that fooled Wildung to give Austin a 3-1 lead early in the third. The Minotauros answered quickly when Michael Bigelbach (Red Wing, MN) fed a pass through traffic onto the stick of Beau Ricketts (N. Las Vegas, NV), whose deflection made it 3-2. The Bruins killed off a four-minute penalty midway through the period, and a late Minotauros attack was stymied when Jay Dickman (Shoreview, MN) scored into the empty-net in the final minute. Nick Lehr stopped 20 shots for his 21st win of the season.

The two teams will skate again tomorrow at Riverside, with the puck drop scheduled for 7:05pm. The game can be seen at fasthockey.com and will also be on the radio dial at 1480AM KAUS in Austin.

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